Dot Foods Profits from Data

Fleet Equipment, Sep 2005

Typically tires are one of the highest cost items for fleets - anything to reduce tire costs helps the bottomline

In an ideal world, you would use a simple formula to calculate tire costs and compare it to an industry-wide average. But in reality, unfortunately, it is not that simple. "With all the varying factors that contribute to tire wear, it's critical that every fleet establish internal benchmarks. Good data on specific tire applications is like gold," says Al Cohn, manager of strategic initiatives for Goodyear. "It can be leveraged in many different ways to help a fleet save money on their tires."

Ten years ago, Dot Foods Inc. decided it needed a better way to track information on its tires than the paper-and-pencil system it had been using. The Mt. Sterling, Ill.-based food re-distributor runs 507 trucks from seven locations, hauling refrigerated, frozen and dry bulk products.

The company decided to use Goodyear's TVTRACK software, and according to shop supervisor Duane Fischer, the decision was a good one. Fischer works at the company's Williamsport, Md. location, where 67 power units are maintained. He says the software program has helped Dot Foods' fleet managers with their budgeting and has provided the information they need to make better-informed decisions on tire purchasing, spec'ing and maintenance.

Data input

Regular sampling of tires on specific vehicles provides the raw data needed. Handheld computers can be taken to vehicles and used to enter the data (tire pressure, tread depth, etc.), which can be easily transferred to a desktop computer.

Determining a valid sample size is important to ensure meaningful data. RP 208A, outlined in the Technology and Maintenance Council's Recommended Practices manual provides detailed guidelines for tire evaluations.

"Once you have a regular data stream, you can use the data many different ways/' says Goodyear's Cohn. "You can analyze every tire position, calculating total cost per mile using the current tread and predicted miles to removal. It also allows you to measure the impact of variables such as engine power, axle configuration and loads on tire life. You can compare one tire combination with a different one to understand which makes the most sense for the application."

Many of these scenarios can be analyzed in Goodyear's Tire Value CaIc III software. Once vehicle information is entered, you can point and click to create different graphs to compare and project present and future operating costs. Forecasting tools allow you to predict how many new tires and retreads you will need per year at a specific wheel position.

Fischer says Dot Foods has found TVTRACK to be an "invaluable tool" for tire management. "We use the software to track operating costs and tire wear by individual tire," he says. "It's used when we plan our tire retreading and replacement schedules and to compare tire makes and models in terms of durability and fuel economy. What we've learned from the program over the years has led us to make some changes to our tire specs."

Fischer says every Dot Foods truck is assigned a number, so if a tire failure occurs on the road the system provides the information needed to tell the tire service facility and the driver exactly which tire is affected.

"Also, most of our drivers are assigned to a specific truck, so we can see who is getting the most out of their tires when it comes to tread wear and fuel economy," he says.

He also pointed out that the software is easy to use. His technicians input data on tire wear when the trucks come in for wheel alignments at 60,000 miles and tire rotations every 100,000 mues. He says, "On-screen menus give you all of the information you need. You simply click on each tire position on the truck chassis diagram that's shown on the screen. It's very simple to use."

Goodyear's Cohn says fleets of all types can leverage the data. "It doesn't matter what type of operation you run. The value of the data is there/' he says. "The more you use it, the greater the savings."